Just over a month ago, Georgia’s football team was undefeated but facing an arduous task: four consecutive games against ranked opponents.
The stretch looked even more daunting when the Bulldogs lost the first of those games by 20 points at LSU on Oct. 13, leaving virtually no margin for error to achieve their high goals for the season.
But now that four-game test has been completed, and Georgia survived with its goals intact and improvements made in several key areas. The Bulldogs (9-1, 7-1 SEC) followed the loss at LSU with wins over Florida, Kentucky and Auburn, each victory by 17 or more points.
“Everybody is kind of in that groove right now,” Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm said. “Hopefully we can keep rolling with it.
“The team is definitely taking strides, (considering) the caliber of opponents we have been playing.”
Now the Bulldogs will complete the regular season with two non-conference games in Athens – Saturday against 43-point underdog Massachusetts (4 p.m., SEC Network; News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB) and Nov. 24 against Georgia Tech – before facing Alabama in the SEC Championship game Dec. 1 in Atlanta.
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Fromm and other Georgia players discussed several areas in which the Bulldogs have improved over the past three games, including running the ball and stopping the run.
Against LSU, Georgia’s offense generated only 113 yards rushing on 30 carries, an average of 3.77 yards per carry. But in the past two games, the Bulldogs had their two best rushing totals of the season -- 331 yards on 50 carries against Kentucky (6.62 per carry) and 303 yards on 46 carries against Auburn (6.59 per carry).
Credit the improved play of the offensive line. “Auburn had a Sunday-caliber defensive line,” Fromm said, “and our guys did a really good job moving them.”
And credit the improved health of tailback D’Andre Swift, who didn’t reach 100 yards rushing in any of the season’s first seven games but has done so in each of the past three, including a career-high 186 vs. Auburn.
“I'm still battling injuries, to tell you the truth, but I’m definitely getting better,” Swift said.
Any lingering effects from foot and groin injuries weren’t apparent on an 83-yard touchdown run against Kentucky and a 77-yard TD run against Auburn – plays that made Swift the first Georgia tailback since Herschel Walker in 1980 to have two rushing touchdowns of 75 yards or longer in the same season. The tailback tandem of Swift and Elijah Holyfield combined for 725 rushing yards in the past three games after combining for 370 in the three games before that.
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For all of the rushing yardage, an area still glaringly in need of improvement is short-yardage offense deep in the red zone. Against Auburn, for example, the Bulldogs twice settled for field goals after having first downs inside the 5-yard line.
“Right now, (we’re) just not really executing at the highest level we need to (near the goal line),” Fromm said. “The chips haven’t fallen our way. Hopefully they will soon, because we’re going to need that.”
“I know it’s something we’re going to emphasize a lot this week at practice,” wide receiver Tyler Simmons said.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s defense has clamped down on opponents’ run games. After allowing 275 yards rushing against LSU and 170 against Florida, Georgia held Kentucky and Auburn to 84 and 102 yards rushing, respectively.
“I think it has a lot to do with the bye week that we had (after the LSU game),” linebacker Juwan Taylor said. “We just went to work on the bye week, focusing on what we need to focus on and working on us. We have continued to improve over the last three weeks on our run defense.”
“I feel better (about the run defense),” coach Kirby Smart said. “You get what you demand a lot of times, so we’ve certainly worked really hard to shore up those areas through technique, fundamentals and going against a pretty good run team in our offense (at practice).”
On both sides of the ball, the continued emergence of players has enhanced Georgia’s progress.
Freshman Jordan Davis, who didn’t make the travel roster for the Bulldogs’ first two road games this season, has started the past three games on the defensive line. Redshirt freshman Eric Stokes came off the bench at cornerback against Auburn and provided lockdown coverage. Sophomore wide receiver Jeremiah Holloman has made big plays throughout the win streak: two touchdown catches on third downs against Florida, four catches against Kentucky, a key downfield block on Swift’s 77-yard run vs. Auburn.
Fromm also bounced back strongly the past three weeks after having the worst game of his career at LSU. He completed 16 of 34 passes (47 percent) with two interceptions against LSU, but has completed 44 of 64 (69 percent) with just one interception in the three games since then.
Alabama looms, of course, and Georgia’s past three opponents aren’t on the same level as the Crimson Tide. Still, Florida and Kentucky were ranked in the nation’s top 10 entering their games against Georgia, and Auburn was in the top 25.
“It’s been a really big stretch of games for our players. It’s been a tough road,” Smart said. “They’ve played really hard through it.”
Smart continues to describe his team as “a work in progress.”
“I still feel like our best football is ahead of us,” he said.
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